Islamabad - President Mamnoon Hussain has said that the experiment of establishing institution of ombudsman for providing speedy and free justice at the doorstep of the people has been successful.
Addressing the inaugural session of the 14th Conference of the Asian Ombudsman Association at the Aiwan-e-Sadr yesterday, the President said that many new experiments have been made in Pakistan which aided in resolving public issues adding that Asian countries can get beneficial results by benefiting from Pakistan’s successful experiments.
Federal ministers, diplomats, ombudsmen from Asian countries, eminent personalities and senior officials also attended the conference. On the occasion, the President and Federal Ombudsman addressed the conference in Urdu language.
The President said that institution of Ombudsman is not new in Pakistani culture, noting that this concept has been present in the society since centuries but when this traditional institution was given a codified shape, it produced very good results.
The President said that in Pakistan experiment of establishing standing committees for resolution of problems of overseas Pakistanis, people of Fata, retired employees and children has also been successful. The President suggested that Asian countries can achieve beneficial results by taking benefit from Pakistan’s successful experiments.
The President stated that public generally look toward their governments for the resolution of their problems adding that the institution of Ombudsman is very useful in this regard. The President stated that the Conference would provide an opportunity to participants to exchange views and learn from each other’s experiences which would help in further improving the performance.
Federal Ombudsman Salman Faruqui and and Chief Ombudsman of Thailand Professor Siracha Vongsarayankura also addressed the Conference. Federal Ombudsman of Pakistan, M Salman Faruqui hoped the 14th Asian Ombudsman Association will formulate tangible proposals regarding the challenges faced by the ombudsmen of Asian countries.
The two-day conference of Asian Ombudsmen Association (AOA) is being participated by 62 delegates of about 17 member countries including China, Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Jordan, Turkey, Bahrain and Azerbaijan. The conference spread over four plenary sessions and sideline meetings.
The topic for this year summit is “Challenges of Ombudsmanship”. The delegates from the member countries would present the challenges faced by them and in the concluding session proposals would be given for their solution.
Addressing the conference, the federal ombudsman apprised that new avenues were being explored for expeditious disposal of people’s complaints.
A plan has already been devised to ensure availability of the officials of federal and provincial ombudsmen in 138 districts and 435 tehsils of country including GilgitBaltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir under one roof. He said the institution of ombudsman was facing multifarious challenges and stressed a need to retool and redesign the ombudsman’s forum for a quantum jump in its performance.
He said AOA represents a population of over 2.5 billion with hosts of problems found in various stages of development. Millions of people have huge grievances and suffer from various forms of disadvantages.
He said the ombudsman institution should extend its outreach and open up to a larger participation. The implementation of the decisions of ombudsman has to be quick and less time consuming.
Faroqui said during his tenure of two years the implementation ratio on decisions remained 97 percent. Referring to a World Bank survey, he said 90 percent citizens have expressed satisfaction on the performance of federal Ombudsman. Decisions of Ombudsman are being taken within 60 days while the ratio of appeals is only 0.36 percent.
Senior Advisor/National Commissioner for Children Ejaz Ahmed Qureshi said institutions could be changed through personal experiences. He also highlighted the achievements of National Commission for Children. Children complaint offices were setup at the Wafaqi Mohtasib level and replicated at the five (including AJK) provincial Mohtasib levels.
Meanwhile, the President also administered the oath of office to Raeesuddin Paracha as insurance ombudsman in a special ceremony held at the Aiwan-e-Sadr yesterday. The oath-taking ceremony was attended, among others, by senior government officials. The ceremony was conducted entirely in Urdu language.